The present invention relates to automatic clothes washing machines, and more particularly to apparatus for intensifying the flow within an upright automatic clothes washing machine.
The standard upright automatic clothes washing machine includes a central vertically oriented agitator, a hollow cylindrical drum coaxially disposed about the agitator, and means for reciprocally rotating the agitator and the drum relative to each other about a vertical axis during the washing cycle. The washing machine may additionally include means for rotating the agitator and drum together as a unit about the vertical axis during the spin cycle. Typically during the washing cycle the drum is stationary and the agitator reciprocally rotates about the vertical axis to effect relative movement between the clothing to be washed and the water in the drum which flows through clothing to remove therefrom soil (including dirt and similar accumulations on or within the clothing). The stronger or more forceful the flow of water through the clothing, the more likely it is that the water will be able to remove the soil. Indeed, this is the basis for such antiquated (although still used) manual techniques as wetting clothing in a running stream and then banging the clothing on rocks to force the water through and out of the clothing. A slightly modified version of this antiquated technique is still widely practiced--namely, rubbing wet clothing against the irregular surface of a washing board. Each of these manual techniques causes water to pass through the fibers of the clothing to remove the soil therefrom.
The action of the agitator and drum during the washing of a modern upright automatic clothes washing machine is adequate to cause some reciprocal, substantially lateral motion of the clothing from one side to another relative to the water in the drum, but this relative water flow does not effect sufficient wringing pressure to effect a desirably continuous cycle of water-absorption and water-expulsion. More precisely, the pressure with which the water is forced through the clothing in the automatic washing machine is less than the pressure typically exerted in manual washing. Accordingly, the modern washing machine requires the use of stronger detergents, larger amounts of detergent, or repeated washings, each of which not only increases the cost of the washing operation but may also be detrimental to the clothing--that is, over time may cause the clothing to become dingy or yellowed and eventually to deteriorate.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide apparatus for intensifying the relative flow between water and clothing in the washing cycle of an upright automatic clothes washing machine.
Another object is to provide such apparatus which may be added to existing washing machines.
A further object is to provide such apparatus which increases the pressure with which the water flows through the clothing during the washing cycle.